| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. |
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| antidote |
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| SYLLABICATION: | an·ti·dote |
| PRONUNCIATION: |   n t -d t |
| NOUN: | 1. A remedy or other agent used to neutralize or counteract the effects of a poison. 2. An agent that relieves or counteracts: jogging as an antidote to nervous tension. | | TRANSITIVE VERB: | Inflected forms: an·ti·dot·ed, an·ti·dot·ing, an·ti·dotes
To relieve or counteract with an antidote: “Hallie's family life is laced with the poison of self-hatred, a poison that Sam has antidoted with love and understanding“ (Christopher Swan, Christian Science Monitor November 10, 1983). | | ETYMOLOGY: | Middle English, from Latin antidotum, from Greek antidoton, from antididonai, antido-, to give as a remedy against : anti-, anti- + didonai, to give; see d- in Appendix I. | | OTHER FORMS: | anti·dotal (nt-dtl) —ADJECTIVE
anti·dotal·ly —ADVERB
| | USAGE NOTE: | Antidote may be followed by to, for, or against: an antidote to boredom; an antidote for snakebite; an antidote against inflation.
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| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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